Good Times (Rhythm and Blues)In the late forties, white record companies labelled commercial black music “race music”. Eventually, Jerry Wexler, then working at Billboard magazine as a reporter, thought of the phrase, “rhythm and blues” and it caught on. Before long, numerous other descriptions appeared – Motown, the Philadelphia Sound, Soul – but all had in common that the music expressed the rising aspirations of the ghetto.
Meanwhile, a curious imitation of black gospel appeared called white gospel. And among those who loved the sound were two remarkable men; one a record producer, Sam Phillips, who wanted to create a sound which had the discipline of white gospel but with the abandon of black rhythm and blues; the other was Elvis Presley.
featuring
Aretha Franklin
Bill Haley
Bo Diddley
Clyde McPhatter
Ike and Tina Turner
Jerry Wexler
Johnnie Ray
Pat Boone
Stevie Wonder
The Lefevres Family
The Platters
The Supremes
Wilson Pickett